Grassroots Community Organizations and a Counternarrative of Chicago’s Mass Public School Closures

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Parents, Students, and Communities Organizing for and Against Educational Change

Abstract

Large numbers of urban public school closures are occurring across the U. S. and are disproportionately impacting low-income communities of color. Educational and political leaders assert closures are the consequence of poor performance, decreasing enrollments, and budget shortfalls, and that the closures will ultimately improve outcomes for students. This narrative inquiry study uses a Critical Race Theory framework to uncover the counter-narrative around school closure as told by leaders from grassroots community organizations campaigning against public school closures in Chicago. Community members tell of the multiple negative impacts that school closures will have on their communities, why they believe their schools were targeted, and how they are organizing to resist school closure despite feeling disempowered by traditional participation venues.

Author

• Colleen Cleary, University of Missouri